Lights Out for Williamstown Street Light Conversion

At a Wednesday night meeting, Williamstown's Prudential Committee decided to pull out of a National Grid plan to convert the town's street lights to newer LEDs.

As reported on iBerkshires.com, the Committee earlier this year had given it's OK based on proposed cost savings to the town and the benefits of using the lower-energy technology. But considerable public opposition arose to the use of the bulbs which burn at 4,000 degrees Kelvin.

Chairman John Notsley said that he and Fire Chief Craig Pedercini met with a National Grid rep earlier this week to ask whether the utility could use 2,700- or 3,000-degree bulbs instead, but they were told that those were unavailable for the program right now.

Notsley said there would be no penalty for pulling out of the conversion agreement. There will be the loss of about $53,000 in rebates offered for conversions, and the district won't see its electric bill go down as a result of installing the more efficient LED bulbs.

Meanwhile, the town's Planning Board is discussing a bylaw amendment aimed to reduce light pollution.